Lazar of Serbia

Lazar of Serbia (1329-15 June 1389) was Prince of Serbia from 1373 to 1389, preceding Stefan Lazarevic. Lazar sought to resurrect the Serbian Empire, and he assumed the title "Autocrator of all the Serbs" in 1379, although the Serbian nobility did not recognize him as their ruler. He was slain while leading the Christian forces at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389.

Biography
Lazar Hrebeljanovic was born in Prilepac, Serbia in 1329, the son of the councillor of King Stefan Dusan. After Dusan's death in 1355, the Serbian Empire began to disintegrate, with the powerful Serbian nobles coming to exercise more power than the tsar. Stefan Uros V, the young ruler of Serbia, allied with Lazar, who came to exercise a great amount of power at court. He left Uros' court in 1363, and he had become a count by 1371, when Uros died. His death, along with the advances of the Ottoman Turks in the Balkans, led to the dissolution of the Serbian Empire, and Lazar proclaimed himself Prince of Serbia in 1373. He forced the nobles to accept his authority, and he repelled an Ottoman invasion at Dubravnica in 1380. In 1389, Lazar led an alliance of Christian forces against the invading Ottomans at Kosovo Field, and both sides suffered heavy losses. However, Lazar was slain during the battle, and his army was annihilated. In the following years, Serbian principalities became Ottoman vassals one after the other.